Life Support
by Audrey Lynne
Summary: So Radek's always had this puppydog crush on Elizabeth. What will it take for him to own up to it? And what will it take for her to respond? Some medicaltype Elizabeth whumping ensues. WeirZelenka ship.


_**Life Support**_

_by Audrey Lynne_

_You know, considering what we know about TPTB's plans for the future of Atlantis, I've decided I'm just going to live in my happy little fic world forever. Or at least until I get over being annoyed. So rather than further ranting, I'm going to write. Which probably has Radek cowering, because it's usually him I'm doing things to. Oh, well. He'll get over it. This fic is a spoiler-free zone. Unless you didn't know that Rodney's allergic to citrus. Yeah, then there are spoilers. Sorry. Many thanks to Klenotka on Gateworld for the Czech translation help! _

There was always a calm before the storm. And while Radek Zelenka thrived on a certain amount of chaos, he also loved those calm periods, when he could get his work done without the threat of a Wraith attack looming over them. However, once the lull had gone on too long, Radek began to get nervous. On Atlantis, it always felt like they were waiting for the next explosion, and when there had been a lot of waiting and no explosion, it only made Radek worry that the explosion was going to be really big. It had been weeks since the last crisis of any sort, and while that was ostensibly a good thing, Radek couldn't help but be on high alert for anything to go wrong, any minute. It might have been pessimistic, yes, but he preferred to think of it as being realistic. Or maybe he had been hanging around Rodney McKay too long.

"What's with you?"

Radek looked up at the sound of Rodney's voice. "What?"

Rodney strolled around to the front of the console Radek was working on and leaned over the top of it so that he was nearly in Radek's face. Obviously, Rodney was in a good mood, which was a rare enough occasion that it should be savored. Either that, or it was a sign of the approaching apocalypse. "I said, what's up with you? You're practically paranoid." He stood up again, turning around to lean up against the console. "Every little alarm signal we get, you act like you're expecting the Wraith to show up instead of a malfunctioning pipe in a part of the city we aren't even using."

Radek sighed. He had hoped it hadn't been that obvious. "Sorry. It has simply been quite some time since anything has happened. I fear I have allowed my imagination to get the better of me."

Rodney shrugged. "Happens to the best of us. To tell you the truth, if I didn't run into so much crap off-world, _I'd_ probably be a little paranoid."

Radek wasn't sure if that reassured him or not. "If it makes you feel any better, I have not been expecting a Wraith inquisition."

Rodney chuckled darkly. "Radek, _nobody_ expects the Wraith Inquisition."

Given Rodney's tone, Radek was sure there was some joke in there that he was missing, but he had long ago learned that if someone had to explain a joke, it lost a great deal of its humor. With a shrug, he returned to his work. They had found what they thought might be a new program in the Ancient database, but they still weren't sure exactly what it did. "You know, this would progress much more quickly if we had someone to translate." The instructions were all written in Ancient, naturally, and so they had to stop and decipher the words they knew before trying anything else. They were still only getting about half of it, though, as neither was fluent in Ancient.

"Already covered," Rodney told him, sounding a bit too smug. "I asked Elizabeth to wander down here when she gets a chance. Figured it might speed things along a bit."

"Elizabeth?" Radek echoed. Of all the people on Atlantis who could read Ancient well enough to provide translations, it had to be Elizabeth Weir. Radek welcomed any opportunity to work with the leader of their expedition, but usually it was on more neutral ground--the control room, a lab somewhere, the jumper bay. Somehow, when she was in his lab or he was in her office, it felt different. Radek didn't have any good reason why he felt that way, but he did. Privately, he had to confess to having been smitten with her since they met, but he knew it would never go anywhere. Elizabeth was beautiful, intelligent...and she was totally out of his league. "She's coming here?"

Rodney responded with his typical sarcasm. "Unless you want to saw that console out of the floor and haul it up to the control room, yes. Just because you've got a crush on her..."

"I do not," Radek insisted. All right, he did, but when Rodney put it like that, the whole thing sounded so juvenile, like they were hormonal teenagers. "I consider her to be a good friend, yes, but our relationship is entirely professional."

"Not for your lack of fantasizing, I'm sure." Radek should have known Rodney wasn't going to let it go so easily. "I've seen the way you look at her."

Radek wanted to snap at Rodney to let it go, but he knew if he did, the teasing would only get worse. He had to play his hand very carefully. "Whatever you say."

Apparently realizing he wasn't going to get the rise out of Radek he wanted, Rodney shrugged and changed tactics. "You try that bread Teyla left here earlier?"

Bread. That, Radek hadn't been expecting. "What bread?"

"The one Teyla--oh, right, I forgot. You're never aware of food when you're working unless it's within arm's reach." Rodney motioned to the table they usually kept their coffee cups on. It was actually a small console they'd never managed to get working, but until they did, they figured they might as well get _some_ use out of it. Next to the ubiquitous coffee cups rested several slices of some exotic-looking bread. "Apparently, she grew up on the stuff, brought a bunch of it back from the mainland with her this morning. She's been passing it around..."

"How nice of her." Teyla must have come in when Radek had run down the hall to grab a handful of supplies from one of the other labs. "Have you tried it?"

Rodney nodded. "Yeah, it's not bad. Little dry. I think it's an acquired taste." He wandered over and broke off another piece of the bread, contemplating it for a moment after he popped it into his mouth. "Yeah, not too shabby. Better than tava beans. I think there's some kind of fruit in there, too. Of course, when she first showed up with it, I had to make sure there wasn't any--"

"Citrus," Radek finished. He hadn't needed any time to think about it to be able to guess where that was going. "I think everyone here knows by now of your citrus allergy."

Rodney looked affronted, as he did every time he felt he wasn't being taken seriously. "Have you ever _seen_ a person in anaphylactic shock?"

Radek sighed. "No, and if you continue to be so careful, I am not likely to."

Rodney shook his head as he walked away, returning to his own work on the other side of the lab. He was muttering to himself about smartass Czechs, and Radek couldn't help the tiny, satisfied smile that crept onto his lips. Winding Rodney up was fun. While Radek had no doubt that Rodney's allergies were real, and serious, they were one of the easiest things to rile him up about, simply by virtue of the fact that he mentioned them so often.

Elizabeth joined them a few minutes later, cheerful as usual. Radek smiled at her and waved a greeting before Rodney swept in and assumed control of the situation, as was his way.

"Elizabeth!" Rodney waved her over. He had been interfacing a third laptop with the system so that Elizabeth would be able to translate the Ancient text for them without requiring the use of one of their computers. "Your timing is excellent. I'd just finished getting this computer set up so you could do your thing while we do ours."

Elizabeth smiled in that way she did when she was amused. "Sounds good." She typed her code into the computer when Rodney presented it to her, quickly gaining access to the system. "I'm curious, though--I'm happy to help you, but we've got a ton of linguists on this project, most of whom do know Ancient. Why me?"

Rodney gave her a look that suggested the answer should have been obvious. "Well, if we overlook the first obvious issue, that half of them have difficulty handling anything more technologically driven than a rock, there's still the matter of their access codes."

Radek jumped in to explain before Elizabeth had to ask for clarification and Rodney's answer got long-winded. "Because we are not entirely sure what this system does, we have isolated its controls to a large extent. Only the command staff and select members of the science department have access to it at the moment."

"Oh." Elizabeth nodded. "That makes sense." She pulled over a chair and sat down in front of the computer. "What am I looking for?"

Rodney reached over her shoulder to type in a series of commands, then pulled back. "We found what we _think_ is the instruction manual to the system, but our translation program's not making much sense of it. We've got some of the words, but nothing we can work with."

"It's probably the grammar," Elizabeth mused. "I'll do what I can."

Rodney pushed a data pad at her. "Here's what we've managed to figure out on our own. It's a start, but we seem to be missing all the good parts."

"Okay." Elizabeth read the first few lines of text on her screen, contemplating them for a moment. "Well, it's definitely a list of instructions. How complete it is, I don't know yet."

"Oh, come on, these are the people who taught their two year olds linear geometry," Rodney reminded them. "Somehow I doubt they would leave an incomplete list."

Radek shrugged. "It would not be the first time. We have found many things the Ancients removed from their database for no discernable reason."

"No reason we've found _yet_." Rodney crouched down beneath the console he was working from.

Radek ignored him. There was really no point to arguing, since Rodney might well have been right. Atlantis held many mysteries, most of which they hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of. Besides, if Radek didn't let Rodney think he was right, Rodney would only find something else to go on about. He really liked being right--or at least feeling like people thought he was.

As he stood to retrieve his cup of coffee while it was still warm, it occurred to Radek he might want to brew some more now that Elizabeth had joined them. "Dr. Weir, would you like some coffee?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Thanks, Radek, but I've had enough today. And I've told you before; you can call me Elizabeth."

"Ah...yes, of course. I'm sorry." Radek wrapped his hands around the mug he'd picked up; it gave him something to focus on.

"Don't worry about it." Elizabeth smiled at him--he could so easily live for that smile if he let himself go there--then turned to scribble something on the data pad next to her.

As he stood there, sipping at his coffee before he got back to work, Radek absentmindedly broke off a piece of the bread Teyla had left and tried it. It was definitely an interesting combination of flavors, but it was pretty good. Then again, freshly-baked _anything_ tasted good when most of the food served on Atlantis came out of boxes, bags, or freeze-dried packaging. They certainly hadn't set off on an expedition to the Pegasus Galaxy for the food. "Have you tried this bread Teyla brought from the mainland?"

Elizabeth regarded it for a moment, frowning as if trying to remember. "I think she had some of us try something like it once before...it was pretty good."

"At Girl's Poker Night, perhaps?" Rodney asked, looking a little _too_ innocent.

Elizabeth looked mildly surprised. "How'd you know about that?"

"Cadman."

"Oh." Elizabeth's tone said it all; Radek could tell she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know what else Rodney had learned from his body-sharing experience with Laura Cadman. Frankly, Radek wasn't sure he did, either.

Radek used a napkin--kept handy in case of coffee spills--to pick up a slice of the bread and offer it to Elizabeth. If she liked it, she might as well have some, especially since Rodney didn't seem particularly crazy about the bread. Had he been, there probably wouldn't have been any left.

Elizabeth smiled again and accepted Radek's offering. "Thank you."

Radek shrugged. "No, thank _you_. You _are_ helping us, after all." He didn't miss the exaggerated and complete fake swooning motion Rodney was making behind Elizabeth, but if Radek scowled at Rodney, Elizabeth would catch it and no doubt become suspicious.

There was a minor commotion from the lab next door, and Rodney threw a dubious glance in that general direction. "I'd better wander over there and make sure Simpson hasn't finally killed Kavanaugh. You kids play nice while I'm gone, okay?"

Radek rolled his eyes. "_Já ti dám, ty seš takovej vul_," he muttered to himself, shaking his head as Rodney left to investigate.

Elizabeth chuckled softly, though whether it was because she was laughing at the Czech itself or if she understood any of it, Radek couldn't tell. She knew a handful of Czech words and phrases, but Radek was reasonably sure "you're such an idiot" wasn't one of them. Then again, with the time she'd spent in politics, she'd probably heard everything, in multiple languages. He didn't dare underestimate her. "He's something else, isn't he?"

Radek snorted. "You can say that again."

Elizabeth typed one-handed for a moment as she took a bite of Teyla's bread. "Hmm." At first, Radek wondered if she had found something particularly intriguing, but as she spoke again, he realized she was talking about the bread. "Yes, this is definitely the same bread Teyla brought to us before." She took another bite, obviously taking care to make sure the crumbs didn't fall onto the laptop's keyboard, and frowned a little. "I don't remember the spices being this strong last time, though."

"Oh?" Radek asked. They hadn't struck him as being particularly powerful, but, then, everyone perceived things differently.

"My lips are tingling." Elizabeth frowned a little, setting the bread down on the top of the console, where it couldn't do any damage. She winced a bit and cleared her throat.

"Elizabeth?" Radek asked, growing concerned.

Elizabeth waved him off. "I think I swallowed wrong. Had something in my throat for a second...I'm fine."

"If you are certain." Radek wasn't convinced. He took another bite of the bread himself--no, the spices were barely detectable, certainly nothing he would think of as lip-tingling levels. He looked back at Elizabeth and frowned--he thought she looked perhaps a little puffy around the eyes, but it could have been a trick of the light. Her color definitely didn't look good, though, and he doubted it was the light the Ancient console was casting onto her face. Radek stepped over to Elizabeth's side. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth swallowed hard, wincing as she did so. "I don't know what's wrong with me." Her voice sounded a little breathy. "Hard...to swallow..."

That, Radek couldn't explain away. He tapped his headset. "Dr. Beckett, we need a medical team in Science Lab One immediately."

Seconds later, Carson Beckett's familiar Scottish accent came over the radio. "We're on our way."

Radek nodded and turned back to Elizabeth. Whatever was happening to her was progressing at an alarming rate. In the time it had taken him to call for help and receive a reply, the puffiness around Elizabeth's eyes had become far more prominent, and her breathing seemed to be becoming labored. As he listened, Radek swore he could hear her wheezing, even without the aid of a stethoscope. This was bad, very bad. "_Tohle neni pravda_," Radek sighed, unaware at first he was even speaking aloud. No, this could absolutely not be happening. Suddenly, the symptoms all clicked in Radek's mind. Wheezing, puffiness, tingling lips, tight throat...everything Rodney had told Radek to expect in his many briefings on how to deal with anaphylaxis. But that didn't make any sense, unless... "Elizabeth, are you allergic to anything?"

Elizabeth's energy was now mainly focused on drawing air in and out of her struggling lungs, but she managed to shake her head no. There went that theory. That alone was obviously an effort for her, and Radek supported her body as she began to slide off her chair to the floor. He knelt beside her, holding her hand tightly, not wanting to leave her alone, and trying desperately not to let on how terrified he was. Each breath was getting wispier, and Radek was sure she'd stop breathing altogether soon. If only there was something he could do. He was even willing to try the anaphylaxis protocol, since the symptoms were so similar, but Rodney's stash of Epi-Pens was down the hall in his office; the closest one would be on Rodney himself... "Rodney," Radek shouted, hoping Rodney would hear him next door, "_okamzite sem prijd!_" As rattled as he was, it took Radek a second to realize he had been yelling in Czech, but the footsteps outside the door told Radek the message had been received nonetheless.

Elizabeth leaned against Radek in exhaustion, closing her eyes. She was still wheezing, which meant she was still getting some air, but it was a painful sound--and each gasping breath was getting farther apart. "Please, Bětka," Radek begged, the nickname slipping from his lips before he had the opportunity to think better of it, "just keep breathing, just one second more..."

-----------

Rodney was on his way back into the lab when he heard Radek shouting in Czech. All Rodney got out of it was his name and the word "now," which Rodney had learned early on, but the panic in Radek's voice was enough to get Rodney running. At first when he burst into the lab, he didn't see anyone, but then he caught sight of Radek crouched on the floor, his arms around Elizabeth. She looked terrible--and Rodney hadn't been gone long. "Shit, what happened?"

"I do not know," Radek said. "She denies any allergies, but--"

Allergies. Suddenly, the picture Elizabeth presented was way too damned familiar--the blotchy cheeks, the puffy eyes, the labored breathing--oh, God, yes, she was wheezing, too; Rodney could hear it. "Oh, shit." Whether Elizabeth had allergies she knew about or not, this was pure anaphylaxis, and Elizabeth didn't have long before her airways closed entirely. He reached into his pocket, producing the Epi-Pen he always kept on him. During the seconds it took for him to get it out of its packaging and primed, he debated the wisdom of playing doctor and injecting epinephrine into someone it had not been prescribed for. But Elizabeth _couldn't breathe_, and epi was known to fix that problem, so prescriptions be damned. If Carson had a problem, he could take it up with Rodney later. Rodney took a deep breath and jammed the auto-injector against Elizabeth's thigh, his hands shaking as he counted off ten seconds in his mind. Damn, but this was different doing it to someone else. A lot scarier, actually. When it was him, he focused on the _epi is life, epi lets me breathe_ mantra. With Elizabeth, _epi is life_ got overriden by _oh, my God, she can't breathe_.

Rodney sighed at the end of the ten-second count and tossed the Epi-Pen to one side. "You called for a medical team already, right?" He knew Radek could get hyper when crisis struck, but the Czech at least managed to keep the presence of mind to make sure the important things were taken care of.

Radek nodded unsteadily. "Of course. They should be here any minute."

"Good."

Within moments, Elizabeth's breathing began to ease--ah, wonderful stuff, that epi--and it was getting better by the second. "Elizabeth?" Rodney asked. "Can you hear us?" She forced her eyes open, and nodded tiredly. "Good, good. Sorry I didn't exactly talk you through it, but we were a little pressed for time...that was an Epi-Pen I just stuck you with. It'll be a little sore later, but--hey, oxygen's a good thing, right?"

The barest hint of a smile touched her lips, and Rodney smiled at Radek, who looked too relieved for words. Rodney felt himself begin to relax; he was still a little shaky, his own naturally produced adrenaline coursing through his veins, but he'd come down off that soon enough. "She's gonna be okay." Because she was breathing, and that was very much okay in Rodney's book. "And, hey, good thing they designed those pens to work through clothing, right?"

"Huh?" For the first time since Rodney had come rushing back into the lab, Radek took his eyes off Elizabeth momentarily.

Rodney shrugged. "Well, it's got to go in the thigh, you know."

"Yes, and?"

"_And_," Rodney elaborated, "if it couldn't go through her pants, and I was getting the pen ready, _you_ would have been the one taking her pants off." Yes, of course, under the circumstances, it would have been completely different, and totally acceptable, but now that Elizabeth was breathing again and the swelling in her face was starting to go down, Rodney could feel comfortable poking at Radek just a little.

Radek immediately returned his focus to Elizabeth, but Rodney didn't miss the slight flush that colored Radek's cheeks. But any enjoyment Rodney could have taken from that had to be postponed, as Carson and his team arrived a second later. Rodney picked up the discarded Epi-Pen and explained to Carson what he knew as the medics dove in to treat Elizabeth. Disaster averted on Atlantis once again, and it hadn't even involved any nuclear material this time. Just one very lovely drug.

Rodney briefly wondered if anyone would find it odd if he built a small shrine to epinephrine in one of the labs. After all, it had saved many a life--including his own, on several occasions, and now Elizabeth's. John Sheppard's, too, when his heart had been stopped that one time. Hmm. Yes, a shrine sounded like an excellent idea...at least at that exact moment. He would reconsider later, once he had time to discuss it with others, and realize that crossed the line from eccentric into just plain weird, but, hey, at least Elizabeth was alive to tell him that was officially the weirdest thing he had ever suggested.

-----------

Elizabeth groaned as she rolled over to one side in the infirmary bed, trying to get comfortable. Because it was her first anaphylactic reaction--how special, she thought--Carson wanted to keep her overnight, beyond the standard six-hour observation period, and Elizabeth didn't really have the strength to argue. Both Carson and Rodney had assured her the wooziness, mild nausea, and jitteriness she was feeling were normal side-effects of the epinephrine and would pass eventually, but she hated feeling this way. She had hated not being able to breathe more, though.

Radek had been hanging around the infirmary since Elizabeth had been brought in, and though Elizabeth could tell he was trying very hard not to hover, he was always close by. He was so sweet. Elizabeth would have had to have been blind to have missed his schoolboy crush on her, and though everything in her screamed getting involved with anyone from Atlantis was a bad plan, if she'd give in to anyone, it would probably be Radek. She'd always had a secret soft spot for geeks. And he was just such a genuinely wonderful person. Wait, hadn't she been trying to talk herself out of getting into a relationship--any relationship?

Radek wandered back into the room, near Elizabeth's bed, but maintaining a respectful distance. Elizabeth smiled, taking pity on him. "Come on over here, Radek." She wanted to talk to him anyway, thank him for being there for her.

Radek beamed, as if pleasantly surprised by her invitation, and came over to sit down in the chair beside her bed. "I am glad to see you feeling better."

"Thanks." Elizabeth smiled. "Carson says he'll release me tomorrow if all goes well. I figure John can handle things until then."

"And for a couple days after, lassie," Carson chided as he came into the room. "I want you to rest. Your body's been through quite a lot." He smiled at both her and Radek. "I got some test results back; I think you'll be interested to hear them."

Radek stood. "I should let you two talk."

Elizabeth caught his wrist. "No, stay. It's all right; I don't mind."

Radek still looked doubtful, but he sat back down. "If you are sure."

"I am." Elizabeth glanced up at Carson. "What's up?"

"I talked to Teyla, and she was able to tell me more about what's in that bread--and I was able to run some allergy profiles. Normally, these things take longer, but fortunately, the Ancient technology we've interfaced with our lab equipment sped up the process. We managed to nab the culprit that caused your reaction."

"And?" Elizabeth prompted.

"Apparently, one of the main ingredients is a nut the Athosians call 'dejana.' They had it on Athos, but it seems to grow well on the mainland, too. As far as I can gather, it's native to this galaxy, which would explain why you've never encountered it before now. The first time you tried it, your body was introduced to it and for whatever reason primed a response. Hard to say why. Never can tell with allergies, why the immune system picks what it does." Carson patted her hand. "Fortunately, Earth foods should be safe for you, love, same way they always were--and you just have to be careful with any local dishes. I'll prescribe you an Epi-Pen to keep on you, just in case, but if you're careful, you may never need to use it. Let's hope you don't."

Elizabeth was all for that. "Thanks, Carson." As Carson left, Elizabeth turned back to Radek. "I wanted to thank you for being there for me earlier today." She'd already gotten the opportunity to talk to Rodney and thank him, but Radek had been trying to hang around without being noticed--and, besides, her talk with him was going to be different. "I really appreciate it."

"You are very welcome," Radek said, "but I only did what I had to do. I wish I could have done more. In fact, I wish I'd never given you--"

Elizabeth held up her hand to stop the apology. "Don't apologize for that. I'd had it once before. I didn't know I would be allergic; how were you to?" His hand had fallen to rest on her bedrail, and she reached out to put her hand on top of his. "You were there for me, and that's what I remember. And I'm sorry, myself, for scaring you."

"If I am not to apologize to you, you must also not apologize to me," Radek insisted. "It happened, and I am very happy you are okay."

Elizabeth nodded. "If that's the way it's going to be, then." She leaned back against her pillows, closing her eyes briefly. A piece of a memory tickled her mind. Radek had said something to her in those desperate minutes, something she hadn't entirely understood. "Radek, what's 'Bětka' mean?"

Radek stared at her, blinked, and then recovered himself. "Oh...I am sorry, I was flustered. It is a nickname of sorts...short for Alžběta...Elizabeth, in Czech."

Sometimes, a little bit of knowledge about a culture could be a dangerous thing. Elizabeth knew most diminutives were not used lightly, bandied around the way American nicknames were. Alžběta would likely only be called Bětka by her closest friends and family. It revealed a lot about Radek's heart, the way he thought of her. "A pet name?" She had to let him know she knew.

Radek squirmed in his seat. "Ah...yes, I suppose it could be called that. I am sorry, I--"

Elizabeth cut him off. "I think it's sweet." She sat up and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "Thank you, again."

"Ah...you are, again, very welcome." Radek smiled. "I found the thought of losing you very distressing."

Elizabeth winked, deciding to try to lighten the moment before it got maudlin. "So did I."

Radek laughed. "I should let you rest. I will see you later?"

"Of course," Elizabeth agreed. She took a deep breath, and ignored the diplomat within her who was wagging a maternal finger and reminding her of the dangers of dating co-workers. The feeling, loving woman within her wanted to move forward, and knew she'd have to make the first move before he'd feel comfortable traveling that road. "Radek?"

"Yes?"

"I figure, by Friday, Carson will let me get back to normal activities...would you like to have dinner that night? Say, around eight?"

Radek blinked in shocked surprise. "Me...you...dinner? Friday?"

Elizabeth nodded confirmation. "Yes. If you're willing, of course."

Radek's smile could have lit up the room. "That would be...wonderful."

"I guess it's a date, then." Elizabeth settled down underneath the covers, getting comfortable. She _was_ pretty tired, but given all she'd been through that day, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. "But don't be a stranger before then, huh?" The syrupy tone she heard in her voice told her just how close to falling asleep she really was, as if her heavy eyelids hadn't been a clue.

Radek nodded, and reached out to squeeze her hand. "I won't. Take care."

"You too," Elizabeth murmured, closing her eyes. She was asleep within moments, happily falling into dreams of the possibilities ahead. Long walks through the streets of Prague, his arm around her waist, her lips touching his...and a whispered endearment, a nickname she heard from him alone.

_The End_


End file.
